Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of its surrender in World War Two on Friday with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda avoiding visiting a shrine for war dead seen by Asian neighbours as a symbol of Tokyo’s past militarism.

Former prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi and three current cabinet ministers were among those who paid their respects at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo on Friday, domestic media reported. A cross-party group of over 50 lawmakers also visited the Shinto shrine. The shrine honours Japanese World War Two leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, along with 2.5 million war dead. Past visits there by Japanese leaders have divided opinion at home and angered countries that suffered under Japan’s military aggression in the early 20th century. A mixed crowd of former soldiers, relatives of the war dead dressed in mourning attire, young couples and right-wing activists in military uniforms flocked to the shrine in the summer heat. Farm Minister Seiichi Ota, Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka and Seiko Noda, minister for consumer affairs, also visited, local media said. “I am here to honour the spirits of the dead because I want to thank those who worked for the nation,” said 82-year-old Seiichi Suzuki, a former soldier who served on a destroyer during the war. “I see no need for Fukuda to visit,” he said. ACTIVISTS FRUSTRATED Others were frustrated by the 72-year-old premier’s decision to stay away, and activists blasted messages from loudspeakers criticising Fukuda. “He has no guts. I don’t think he needs to care about what China and South Korea think,” said Masanobu Masuda, 34, who was at the shrine early on Friday. Fukuda, a moderate conservative who stresses good ties with Asian countries, made clear when he took office last September that he would not visit the shrine. He paid his respects at a secular memorial to fallen Japanese service members and attended a government-sponsored remembrance ceremony with Emperor Akihito. “Our country has inflicted great pain on many nations, especially those in Asia. On behalf of the Japanese people, I express my condolences and deep regret to all the victims,” Fukuda said at the ceremony. “I pledge that we will renew our commitment not to fight war and that we will lead the international community as a peace cooperating nation to actively establish lasting peace in the world.” Some 6,000 people who attended the ceremony observed a minute’s silence for the war dead at noon. Sino-Japanese relations foundered during the 2001-2006 tenure of Koizumi, whose annual visits to Yasukuni outraged Beijing and Seoul. A thaw began after his successor Abe stayed away during his short-lived term in office, placing priority on diplomacy over pleasing his conservative base. Debate over visits to Yasukuni has been muted ahead of this year’s anniversary, as policy-makers and voters focus more on the faltering economy and consumers’ worries about rising prices than questions of national pride and wartime history.